The traditional folk method for cooking rice crust congee includes the steps of: filling sufficient water into an iron wok on a kitchen stove; pouring the cleaned rice into the wok after the water is boiled; stirring the rice with gourd ladle occasionally without covering the wok, so as to avoid the rice from attaching on the wok; fading the fire in the stove when the rice is cooked medium well, so as to prevent the soup from charring; ladling the cooked rice and the rice soup into a drain basket under which a ceramic basin is placed, such that the cooked rice and the rice soup are separated through the holes of the drain basket; then putting the cooked rice into the wok cleaned; pouring a little of clean water around the inner periphery of the wok; put a cover onto the wok, wherein the gaps between the wok and the cover should be blocked with a dishcloth rolled into an elongated strip; then cooking the rice with the remained fire within the stove slowly; when one can smell fragrance, filling the cooked rice into bowls, meanwhile, pouring all the rice soup into the wok, and stirring it with the rice crust, cooking with low fire, until now, the fragrant rice crust congee is finished.
This method for cooking the rice crust congee is complex in procedures, and depends on the experience and feeling of the cook, or else, the rice may become rice paste or burned. This method is seldom used in the majority of the other areas expect the fewer rural areas, since it cost too much time and labor. However, people wishes to enjoy the rice crust congee.
The Chinese invention patent with the patent number 200420034486.2 discloses an electric cooker which can separate the cooked rice from the soup automatically. In this patent, a separating layer is provided within an inner vessel so as to separate the inner vessel into a cooked rice vessel and a rice soup vessel. The top of the separating layer is formed with a rice soup overflow opening. The excess water within the cooked rice vessel forms the rice soup when cooking, and the rice soup overflows into the rice soup vessel through the rice soup overflow opening. This electric cooker can only produce rice soup, but cannot produce rice crust, and the rice soup can overflow through the outflow opening only when the rice and the water are filled more than a certain level. However, it is difficult to ensure that the amount of the remaining water is suitable for the amount of the rice, which will likely cause the cooked rice to become rice paste, sticky or dilute, affecting the taste disadvantageously. Besides, the rice soup cannot be taken out or flow out voluntarily, nor can it be used to cook rice crust congee.